In the aftermath of allegations of racial profiling at Barneys and Macy’s, Tressie McMillan Cottom checks in on criticism of the shoppers, who some say shouldn’t have been spending beyond their means in the first place. “Poor people make stupid, illogical decisions to buy status symbols,” she writes at her blog, Tressiemc,  “for the same…

The story of Jonathan Ferrell, who was shot dead by a North Carolina police officer as he sought help, highlights the deadly toll of racial stereotyping, Tressie McMillan Cottom writes in a piece at Slate. Last week, Jonathan Ferrell, a former Florida A&M football player who recently moved to the Charlotte, N.C., area to be…

Citing the backup dancers on display during Miley Cyrus’ MTV Video Music Awards twerking debacle, Tressie McMillan Cottom argues at her blog, tressiemc.com, that whites have long viewed black women as freak show attractions. She frames the spectacle against the backdrop of anti-black-female themes in American culture. Cyrus’ dancers look more like me than they do Rihanna…

People should simply attribute Georgia school bookkeeper Antoinette Tuff’s heroic efforts to her humanity rather than to her being a strong black woman, Tressie McMillan Cottom writes at her tressiemc.com blog. Tuff is an amazing woman who did what we can each only hope to be brave enough to do when so many lives are at…